Methods and systems for exchange of equipment performance data

ABSTRACT

A method for an exchange of equipment performance data including the steps of: obtaining performance data of a device not having Internet connectivity; converting the performance data into a scannable code; capturing an image of the scannable code; decoding the scannable code using a computing device to extract an address string encoded in the scannable code, the address string comprising an address of a remote server and the performance data; and initiating, by the computing device, an Internet connection with the remote server using the address string thereby to provide the performance data to the remote server.

FIELD

The subject disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for exchange of equipment performance data.

BACKGROUND

In today's world, smart devices that have Internet communication capabilities are commonplace. In fact, disconnected devices (i.e. devices not having Internet capabilities) are now the outliers. That said, many legacy disconnected devices remain in use. Also, in some sensitive environments, disconnected devices are preferred to reduce the risk of third-party hacking attempts and unwanted access to sensitive information. This is particularly true in the medical environment as most medical imaging equipment is “disconnected”. As will be appreciated, monitoring performance and running analytics on disconnected devices presents challenges as performance data of disconnected devices is not readily available for processing. Not surprisingly, improvements in the monitoring and assessment of disconnected devices are desired.

It is therefore an object to provide novel methods and systems for exchange of equipment performance data.

This background serves only to set a scene to allow a person skilled in the art to better appreciate the following detailed description. None of the above discussion should necessarily be taken as an acknowledgment that this discussion is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

It should be appreciated that this brief description is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This brief description is not intended to be used to limit the scope of claimed subject matter.

Accordingly, in one aspect there is provided a method comprising: obtaining performance data of a device not having Internet connectivity; converting the performance data into a scannable code; capturing an image of the scannable code; decoding the scannable code using a computing device to extract an address string encoded in the scannable code, the address string comprising an address of a remote server and the performance data; and initiating, by the computing device, an Internet connection with the remote server using the address string thereby to provide the performance data to the remote server.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises performing, by the remote server, analytics on the device performance data.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises at least one of: sending historic device performance data and/or analytical results to a remote computing device; and sending a link to the historic device performance data and/or analytical results to the remote computing device. In one form, the computing device and the remote computing device may be the same computing device or may be difference computing devices.

In one or more embodiments, the device is medical imaging equipment and wherein obtaining the performance data comprises scanning a phantom using the medical imaging equipment and generating a system status report identifying one or more operational parameters of the medical imaging equipment.

In one or more embodiments, the device is packaging equipment and wherein obtaining the performance data comprises scanning a calibration unit using the packaging equipment and generating a system status report identifying one or more operational parameters of the packaging equipment.

In one or more embodiments, the method comprises, prior to the converting, encoding the performance data. In one form, the encoding comprises serializing the performance data and transforming the serialized performance data to tamper-proof the performance data. In one form, transforming the serialized performance data comprises subjecting the serialized performance data to one of a check sum function or encryption program. In one form, the subjecting comprises subjecting the serialized performance data to the check sum function to generate a digital signature that is appended to the serialized performance data. In one form, the encoding further comprises sanitizing the transformed serialized performance data into an address string format and prepending the address of the web server to the sanitized performance data thereby to form the address string.

In one or more embodiments, the scannable code is a matrix code. In one form, the matrix code is a quick response (QR) code.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises, after the converting, presenting the scannable code on a display console of the device and/or printing the scannable code on a physical medium.

In one or more embodiments, the method comprises capturing the image of the scannable code with the computing device.

According to another aspect there is provided a method comprising: receiving, by a server, a network connection request from a computing device, the network connection request comprising an address string extracted from an image of a scannable code, the address string comprising an address of the server and performance data of a disconnected device; extracting, by the server, from network connection request the performance data; and verifying, by the server, the performance data.

In one or more embodiments, the verifying comprises: subjecting the extracted performance data to a check sum function to generate a signature; and comparing the generated signature to a signature within the address string to determine whether the signature and generated signature match.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises compiling, by the server, the performance data with prior performance data in a database to create historic performance data.

In one of more embodiments, the method further comprises running analytics on the performance data.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises at least one of: transmitting the historic performance data and/or results of the analytics to a remote computing device; and transmitting a link to the historic performance data and/or results of the analytics to the remote computing device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompany drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for exchange of medical imaging equipment performance data;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for exchange of medical imaging equipment performance data carried out by the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a system status report comprising performance parameters of the medical imaging equipment and a matrix code comprising the system status report presented on a display console of the medical imaging equipment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of performance data processing performed during the method of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is another flowchart of performance data processing performed during the method of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is exemplary historical data generated by the system of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a system for exchange of packaging equipment performance data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The foregoing brief description, as well as the following detailed description of certain examples will be better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. As used herein, a feature, structure, element, component etc. introduced in the singular and preceded by the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not necessarily excluding the plural of the features, structures, elements, components etc. Further, references to “one example” or “one embodiment” are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional examples or embodiments that also incorporate the described features, structures, elements, components etc.

Unless explicitly stated to the contrary, examples or embodiments “comprising” or “having” or “including” a feature, structure, element, component etc. or a plurality of features, structures, elements, components etc. having a particular property may include additional features, structures, elements, components etc. not having that property. Also, it will be appreciated that the terms “comprises”, “has”, “includes” means “including but not limited to” and the terms “comprising”, “having” and “including” have equivalent meanings.

As used herein, the term “and/or” can include any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed features, structures, elements, components or other subject matter.

Reference herein to “example” means that one or more feature, structure, element, component, characteristic and/or operational step described in connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment and/or implementation of the subject matter according to the subject disclosure. Thus, the phrases “an example,” “another example,” and similar language throughout the subject disclosure may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same example. Further, the subject matter characterizing any one example may, but does not necessarily, include the subject matter characterizing any other example.

Reference herein to “configured”, “operative”, and “adapted” denote actual states that fundamentally tie the feature, structure, element, component, or other subject matter to the physical characteristics of the feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter preceding the phrase “configured to”, “operative to”, and “adapted to”. Thus, “configured”, “operative”, and “adapted” means that the feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter is designed and/or intended to perform a given function. Thus, the use of the term “configured”, “operative”, and “adapted” should not be construed to mean that a given feature, structure, element, component, or other subject matter is simply “capable of” performing a given function but that the feature, structure, element, component, and/or other subject matter is specifically selected, created, implemented, utilized, and/or designed for the purpose of performing the function.

Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “first,” “second,” etc. are used herein merely as labels, and are not intended to impose ordinal, positional, or hierarchical requirements on the items to which these terms refer. Moreover, reference to a “second” item does not require or preclude the existence of a lower-numbered item (e.g., a “first” item) and/or a higher-numbered item (e.g., a “third” item).

As used herein, the terms “approximately”, “about”, “substantially”, “generally” etc. represent an amount or condition close to the stated amount or condition that results in the desired function being performed or the desired result being achieved. For example, the terms “approximately”, “about”, “substantially”, “generally” etc. may refer to an amount or condition that is within engineering tolerances to the precise value or condition specified that would be readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art.

In general, methods and systems for exchange of equipment performance data are described herein. The methods and systems are particularly suited to allow operation of equipment that does not have Internet communication capabilities to be monitored and assessed. In this manner, the equipment may be serviced, if required, and its operation calibrated. In one form, the method comprises obtaining performance data of a device not having Internet connectivity and converting the performance data into a scannable code. An image of the scannable code is captured and the scannable code is decoded using a computing device to extract an address string encoded in the scannable code. The address string comprises an address of a remote server and the performance data. An Internet connection with the remote server is initiated by the computing device using the address string thereby to provide the performance data to the remote server. The remote server extracts the performance data from network connection request and verifies the performance data. Once verified, the performance data is compiled with historic performance data and/or analytics are run on the performance data to assess the operation of the device. Feedback can then be provided to the owner/operator of the device either by transmitting the historic performance data and/or results of the analytics to the owner/operator of the device or by transmitting a link to the historic performance data and/or results of the analytics to the owner/operator of the device. Further specifics concerning the methods and systems will now be described.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a system for exchange of equipment performance data is shown and is generally identified by reference character 100. In this embodiment, the equipment is medical imaging equipment 102 that does not have Internet communication capabilities (i.e. is “disconnected”). The medical imaging equipment 102 may be a standalone device with its own display and processing capabilities. Alternatively, the medical imaging equipment 102 may comprise an imaging unit that communicates with one or more local computing devices that provide display and processing capabilities over wired and/or wireless communication links. For example, the medical imaging equipment 102 may be a thermoacoustic (TA) imaging system, an ultrasound (US) imaging system, a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system, or a computed tomography (CT) imaging system. Of course, the medical imaging equipment 102 may take other forms such as therapy equipment.

A web server 104 associated with the manufacturer of the medical imaging equipment 102 or an associate or affiliate of the medical imaging equipment manufacturer is configured to receive performance data of the medical imaging equipment 102 from a remote computing device 106 and process the received performance data to allow the performance of the medical imaging equipment 102 to be monitored and assessed. The web server 104, as is well known to those of skill in the art, comprises, for example, one or more processors, system memory (volatile and/or non-volatile memory), other non-removable or removable memory (e.g., a hard disk drive, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, DVD, flash memory, etc.) and a system bus coupling the various computer components to the one or more processors.

In this embodiment, the remote computing device 106 is a smart mobile or cellular phone, tablet or pad computing device or other portable computing device that has image capture and Internet communication capabilities. Remote computing devices of this nature are well known to those of skill in the art and as such, details of the remote computing device 106 will not be described herein. The remote computing device 106 is operable to capture an image of encoded performance data generated by the medical imaging equipment 102 and transmit the encoded performance data to the web server 104 over an Internet connection 108 as will be described.

In the subject embodiment, in order to allow the operation of the medical imaging equipment 102 to be monitored and assessed, the medical imaging equipment 102 has a diagnostic application installed therein. The diagnostic application can be run in response to operator input or can be run automatically at programmed intervals. In general, when the diagnostic application is initiated, a performance data exchange method generally identified by reference numeral 200 as shown in FIG. 2 is carried out. In particular, when the diagnostic application is initiated, a report comprising performance data of the medical imaging equipment 102 is generated (step 202). The performance data of the report is then processed to encode and secure the performance data (step 204) and the processed performance data is appended to a uniform resource locator (URL) (i.e., web address) of the web server 104 (step 206). The URL that includes the performance data is then converted into a scannable matrix code such as a quick response (QR) code and presented by displaying the URL on a display console, screen, monitor or the like of the medical imaging equipment 102 and/or by printing the URL on a physical medium (step 208). The presented matrix code can then be imaged by the remote computing device 106 (step 210).

Once imaged, the remote computing device 106 can be conditioned to process and decode the matrix code to extract the URL and then use the URL to establish an Internet connection with the web server 104 (step 212). The web server 104 in response to the established Internet connection processes the URL to extract the performance data of the medical imaging equipment 102 (step 214). The performance data is then stored by the web server 104 in an internal database and evaluated thereby to allow the operation of the medical imaging equipment 102 to be monitored and assessed (step 216). Feedback concerning the operation of the medical imaging equipment 102 can then be provided to the owner/operator of the medical imaging equipment 102 allowing the medical imaging equipment to be re-calibrated if required (step 218).

In this embodiment, when the diagnostic application is initialized at step 202, the medical imaging equipment 102 is conditioned to scan or image a known performance target such as a phantom 110. Once the known performance target has been scanned or imaged, performance data in the form of a system status report is auto-generated by the medical imaging equipment 102 and presented on the display console of the medical imaging equipment 102 as shown in FIG. 3. In this example, the system status report identifies a plurality of performance parameters 300 of the medical imaging equipment 102 such as the average voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), the average forward power, the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the SNR standard deviation, and the SNR of the medical imaging equipment 102. Those of skill in the art will however appreciate that the system status report may identify fewer or more performance parameters of the medical imaging equipment 102. Following generation of the system status report, as described above the system status report is then processed at step 204 and converted to the URL at step 206. The URL is then converted to the matrix code 302 and presented on the display console of the medical imaging equipment 102 and/or printed on the physical medium.

Turning now to FIG. 4, the steps performed during processing of the performance data at step 204 of FIG. 2 are illustrated. As can be seen, the performance data is initially serialized to convert the performance data into a binary byte string (step 402). In this embodiment, Google protocol buffers are employed to convert the performance data into the binary byte string. Once serialized, the binary byte string of performance data is transformed to secure the binary byte string thereby to tamper-proof the performance data (step 404). This ensures the integrity of the performance data. In this embodiment, the serialized binary byte string of performance data is digitally signed by subjecting the binary byte string to a check sum function such as a SHA1 hash function to generate a symmetric hash-based authentication code (HMAC) typically 160 bits in length. The HMAC is then prepending as a header to the binary byte string. Those of skill in the art will however appreciate that alternative methods of transforming the serialized binary byte string of performance data may be employed. For example, the serialized binary byte string of performance data may be transformed using x509 public key encryption, pretty good privacy (PGP) encryption, saltpack etc.

Following the digital signing of the serialized binary byte string of performance data, the digitally signed binary byte stream, which comprises the HMAC header and serialized binary byte string, is sanitized to facilitate transmission over the Internet connection 108 (step 406). In this embodiment during sanitization, the digitally signed binary byte stream is converted to a base64 representation, which is URL safe.

At step 206, an URL identifying the web server 14 and one or more web server route paths is then prepended to the base64 representation to yield an address string. In this embodiment, the resulting address string is a HTTP/1 GET-style URL of the form for example, https://webservername/webserverroutepath(s)/base64-encoded-byte-string. At step 208, the URL is then converted into the QR code 302 using a standard QR-code library and the QR code is presented on the display console of the medical imaging equipment 102 and/or printed on the physical medium.

Once presented on the display console of the medical imaging equipment 102 and/or printed on the physical medium, an image of the QR code 302 can be captured via the remote computing device 106. When an image of the QR code is captured by the remote computing device 106, the QR code is decoded the remote computing device 106 resulting in the HTTP/1 GET-style URL being displayed within a web browser on the display screen on the remote computing device 106. When the user of the remote computing device 106 selects the displayed HTTP/1 GET-style URL, the remote computing device 106 transmits a HTTP GET request that is delivered over the Internet connection 108 to the web server 104 identified in the URL.

Upon receipt of the HTTP GET request, the web server 104 routes the HTTP GET request according to the server path(s) identified in the URL and then processes the URL at step 214. FIG. 5 shows the steps performed during processing of the URL at step 214. In particular, during step 214 the web server 104 extracts the trailing portion of the URL (i.e. the base64 representation of the digitally signed binary byte string) and interprets it as a base64-encoded payload (step 502). The web server 104 then converts the base64-encoded payload back to a digitally signed binary byte string (step 504). The digitally signed binary byte string is then split by the web server 104 into the HMAC header and the trailing payload (step 506). The web server 104 then subjects the trailing payload to the same SHA1 hash function to generate another HMAC signature (step 508) and compares the HMAC signature of the trailing payload with the HMAC header (step 510). If the HMAC signature of the trailing payload matches the HMAC header, the web server 104 determines that the trailing payload comprises valid performance data. If the HMAC signature of the trailing payload does not match the HMAC header, the web server 104 ignores the trailing payload and generates an error message indicating that there is an error in the performance data.

If the trailing payload is determined to comprise valid performance data, the web server 104 deserializes the trailing payload using Google protocol buffers for example to reconstruct the performance report (step 512). The web server 104 then performs a check to determine if the performance report already exists in the internal database. If the performance report already exists in the internal database, the web server 104 ignores the performance report and generates an error message indicating that the performance report is a duplicate.

Following the above at step 216, if the performance report does not exist in the internal database, the web server 104 adds the performance report to the internal database and generates an accepted message. Once the performance report has been added to the internal database, analytics can be run on the performance data, for example to compare the performance report with past performance reports, operation standards/norms etc., to determine the operational health of the medical imaging equipment 102. The results of the analytics can then be used to update a dashboard. The dashboard or a link to the dashboard can then be transmitted to the owner/operator of the medical imaging equipment 102 over an Internet connection 108 (step 218) thereby to provide feedback to the owner/operator of the medical imaging equipment. During this step, the dashboard or link may be transmitted to the remote the owner/operator of the medical imaging equipment 102 in some embodiments may comprise calibration data to input into the medical imaging equipment 102 to re-calibrate the same. The calibration data is provided in a form that facilitates input into the medical imaging input 102 and may similarly take the form of a scannable code.

As will be appreciated, the subject systems and methods allow performance data of disconnected equipment (i.e., equipment not having Internet communication capabilities) to be uploaded securely to a remote server without requiring user authentication through image capture of a matrix code allowing the performance of the equipment to be monitored and analyzed. The historical performance of the equipment and/or analytical results are made available to the owner/operator of the equipment allowing the owner/operator to re-calibrate the equipment if required. For example, FIG. 6 shows historical data of the medical imaging equipment 102 that is accessible to the owner/operator of the medical imaging equipment.

FIG. 6 is an example of historical data for system signal to noise ratio results, derived from obtaining measurements for a quality assurance phantom, over a span of 9 months. For normal operation, the specified signal to noise for the imaging system is 20, or higher. The last measurement in April 2018 indicates that the instrument is out of specification and should be serviced.

In the systems and methods described above, the remote computing device 106 is described as capturing the image of the matrix code, decoding the matrix code to extract the URL of the web server 104, and then establishing an Internet connection with the web server. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that these steps may be performed in proximity to the medical imaging equipment 106 and in real-time after the image of the matrix code has been acquired. Alternatively, the remote computing device may be conditioned to establish the Internet connection with the web server 104 well after the image of the matrix code has been captured as may be required if no Internet connection 108 is readily available at the time of image capture.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the image of the matrix code does not need to be acquired by the remote computing device 106. Instead, a disconnected imaging device 106 such as a conventional camera may be used to capture the image of the matrix code. The captured image can then be re-imaged or scanned off-site by the remote computing device and processed as described above to allow the performance data to be uploaded to the web server 104.

While specific reference is made to medical imaging equipment, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the equipment may take other forms. The subject methods are applicable to basically any disconnected equipment where it is desired to monitor and assess its performance.

For example, turning now to FIG. 7, a system for exchange of packaging equipment performance data is shown and is generally identified by reference numeral 600. The system 600 is similar to system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 and comprises packaging equipment 602 that does not have Internet communication capabilities (i.e., is “disconnected”) and a calibration unit 612 that does not have Internet communication capabilities (i.e., is “disconnected”). Similar to the previous embodiment, the system 600 also comprises a web server 104 associated with the manufacturer of the packaging equipment 602 or an associate or affiliate of the packaging equipment manufacturer that is configured to receive performance data of the packaging equipment 602 from a remote computing device 606 and process the received performance data to allow the performance of the packaging equipment 602 to be monitored and assessed and calibration data returned to the owner/operator of the packaging equipment 602 thereby to allow the packaging equipment to be re-calibrated.

In this embodiment, when it is determined that the packaging equipment 602 has gone out of calibration or at any desired interval, a packaging phantom 610 is provided to the owner/operator of the packaging equipment 602 by the packaging equipment manufacturer. The packaging phantom 610 in this embodiment is a package to be run through the packaging equipment 602 to allow the packaging equipment 602 to perform its fill and seal operations. The packaging phantom 610 has markings printed or otherwise provided thereon that are scanned by the calibration unit 612 after the packaging operation has been performed on the packaging phantom 610. The calibration unit 612 in turn generates engineering codes representing the calibration state of the packaging equipment 602 and converts the engineering codes into a matrix code such as a QR code that can be scanned by the remote computing device 106 and processed in a manner similar to the previous embodiment thereby to allow the calibration state of the packaging equipment 602 to be assessed and re-calibration data provided back to the owner/operator of the packaging equipment 602, if required.

In one embodiment, calibration unit 612 and packaging equipment 602 are combined into the same sub-system, with or without the same housing.

Although embodiments have been described, those of skill in the art will appreciate that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: obtaining performance data of a device not having Internet connectivity; encoding the performance data, wherein the encoding comprises serializing the performance data and transforming the serialized performance data to tamper-proof the performance data, further wherein transforming the serialized performance data comprises subjecting the serialized performance data to one of a check sum function or encryption program; converting the performance data into a scannable code; capturing an image of the scannable code; decoding the scannable code using a computing device to extract an address string encoded in the scannable code, the address string comprising an address of a remote server and the performance data; and initiating, by the computing device, an Internet connection with the remote server using the address string thereby to provide the performance data to the remote server.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the subjecting comprises subjecting the serialized performance data to the check sum function to generate a digital signature that is appended to the serialized performance data.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the encoding further comprises sanitizing the transformed serialized performance data into an address string format and prepending the address of the web server to the sanitized performance data thereby to form the address string.
 4. A method comprising: receiving, by a server, a network connection request from a computing device, the network connection request comprising an address string extracted from an image of a scannable code, the address string comprising an address of the server and performance data of a disconnected device; extracting, by the server, from network connection request the performance data; and verifying, by the server, the performance data, wherein the verifying comprises: subjecting the extracted performance data to a check sum function to generate a signature; and comparing the generated signature to a signature within the address string to determine whether the signature and generated signature match.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: compiling, by the server, the performance data with prior performance data in a database to create historic performance data.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: running analytics on the performance data.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising at least one of: transmitting the historic performance data and/or results of the analytics to a remote computing device; and transmitting a link to the historic performance data and/or results of the analytics to the remote computing device. 